The shortlist for the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture has been announced. Nineteen projects have been selected for the 11th round of the awards, which recognise architectural excellence in Islamic architecture.

A panel of architects, urban planners and engineers will now review the shortlisted projects, and each review will then be presented to the Master Jury before the winners are selected. The final award recipients will be announced at a ceremony held at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar in October 2010.

*The 19 nominees for the 2010 awards are:*
 *Conservation of Gjirokastra, Gjirokastra, Albania (Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organisation technical team)*
A restoration and conservation project that emphasises the development potential of conservation. Preservation projects focus on adaptive reuse and sustainability, integrating training, business development and community outreach.

 *Chandgaon Mosque, Chittagong, Bangladesh (Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury)*
A monolithic and sparse mosque, pared down to two identical cuboid structures. The first is the front court, with low, wide openings to the surrounding landscape and a large opening above, while the second features an iconic cut dome.

 *Nishorgo Visitor Interpretation Centre, Teknaf, Bangladesh (Ehsan Khan)*
A centre providing nature education and interpretation tours, promoting biodiversity, conservation and eco-tourism. The building is sensitively placed in the landscape, creating as little impacy on the environment as possible.

 *CBF Women’s Health Centre, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (FARE Studio, Riccardo Vanucci)*
Set in one of the poorest suburbs of Ouagadougou, the centre provides health and educational services and promotes awareness of womens rights. Passive cooling measures reduce the need for air conditioning, providing a prototype for the region.

 *Bridge School, Xiashi, China (Li Xiaodong (Atelier))*
Bridging two parts of a small village, the steel structure spans a creek providing a school and pedestrian bridge. Small and modern in design, the school provides a physical and spiritual centre for the village.

 *Palmyra House, Alibagh, India (Studio Mumbai Architects, Bijoy Jain)*
A two-storey timber house spread across two volumes, with louvred facades. A quietly compelling project that is fully integrated into its landscape.

 *Green School, Bali, Indonesia (PT Bambu)*
Built to motivate communities to live more sustainably, the Green School promotes the use of bamboo as a primary building material, in an effort to avoid the further depletion of rainforests.

 *Reconstruction of Ngibikan Village, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (Eko Prawoto)*
The reconstruction of Ngibikan Village, destroyed in a 2006 earthquake, provided 65 new homes constructed in less than 90 days. Based on a vernacular building type, the lightweight structures are resistant to future earthquakes.

 *Dowlat II Residential Building, Tehran, Iran (Arsh Design Studio)*
The façade counters the typical two-dimensional façade of the typical Tehran high-rise, with a three-dimensional wooden grid punctured with openings that extend the volume beyond the main envelope. The well-designed apartments also enjoy a rooftop garden.

 *American University of Beirut Campus Master Plan, Beirut, Lebanon (Sasaki Associates with Machado and Silvetti Associates)*
The masterplan was developed to shape the development of the university for the next 20 years, providing architectural, landscape and urban design guidelines to serve the existing and future needs of the university.

 *Restoration of the Rubber Smokehouse, Lunas, Kedah, Malaysia (Laurence K.Y. Loh)*
An example of Malaysias industrial heritage, the smokehouse brings together local communities to create an awareness of their history. The building is now an important part of the towns landscape and a focus for the rural community.

 *Rehabilitation of Al Qaraouiyine Mosque, Fez, Morocco (Mohammed Fikri Benabdallah)*
First constructed in 859AD and extended in the twelfth century, the mosque plays a vital role at the heart of the medina in Fez. The rehabilitation project preserves the historical fabric of the mosque, and revives its cultural and social role in the lives of the citizens of Fez.

 *Souk Waqif, Doha, Qatar (Private Engineering Office, Mohamed Ali Abdullah)*
The revitalisation of the market and surrounding buildings reverses the dilapidation of the area and removed inappropriate alterations and additions. Traditional roofs and building materials were used alongside sophisticated systems including lighting.

 *Wadi Hanifa Wetlands, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Moriyama & Teshima Planners Limited / Buro Happold in joint venture)*
A comprehensive development strategy to restore the Hanifa valley, a natural water drainage course for an area of over 4,000 square kilometres in Saudi Arabia. The scheme will re develop Wadi Hanifa as an environmental, recreational and tourism resource.

 *Madinat Al-Zahra Museum, Cordoba, Spain (Sobejano Architects S.L.P, Fuensanta Nieto & Enrique Sobejano)*
A museum serving the archaeological site of the tenth-century palace city of Madinat Al-Zahra, with a refined and subtle design that blends seamlessly into the surrounding farmland.

 *Yodakandyia Community Centre, Hambantota District, Sri Lanka (Architecture for Humanity / Susi Jane Platt)*
A three-building complex at the heart of the Yodakandyia housing reconstruction scheme, developed for 218 families affected by the 2004 tsunami. It provides a community centre, pre-school, library, medical centre and cricket pitch and volleyball court.

 *Revitalisation of the recent Heritage of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia (Association de Sauvegarde de la Medina de Tunis (ASM))*
The revitalisation of the urban centre of Tunis listed and restored key monuments, including the cathedral, governors residence, theatres and central market, and made the area chiefly pedestrian.

 *Ipekyol Textile Factory, Edirne, Turkey (Emre Arolat Architects)*
A custom-designed facility that integrates production goals with the well-being of employees. Key design objectives focused on a single volume that makes full use of the site, uses local materials, with reduced energy use and enhanced thermal performance.

Established in 1977, the awards aim to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.

The awards mandate is different from that of many other architecture prizes: it selects projects that not only exhibit architectural excellence but also improve the overall quality of life for the buildings users. Over 100 projects have been awarded since the awards were launched, while more than 7,500 building projects have been documented.

Projects that have received the Award range from a primary school in Burkina Faso designed by local architect Diébédo Francis Kéré to an SOM-designed airport in Saudi Arabia and from the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel, to Ken Yeang’s groundbreaking bioclimatic office building in Malaysia. Other past Award recipients have included Lord Norman Foster and Ricardo Legorreta.